Old School Russian Greco Strength Training

In the mood for some old school Russian Greco strength training exercises? You’ve come to the right place.

This is a video that began circulating a few years ago and provides a neat look into how at least some of the Russian Greco Roman wrestlers going back years ago used to train. One of the interesting things about this is the focus on functional movement in conjunction with the exercises. Over the last few years, functional strength training has become sort of a trend, but it’s something that has been part of wrestling for decades, and the Soviets aren’t the only ones who incorporated it. However, they have always had a knack for creativity, which you will see here.

If you can get past the somewhat grainy black and white footage and questionable music, chances are you’ll pick up some very useful ideas to mix into your own workouts. Notice how the Russians blend movements that accentuate techniques. This might seem commonplace nowadays, but it is eye-opening that these guys were onto this before it became “cool.”

High level wrestlers at this point have access to a bevy of coaches who direct them in their supplemental workouts and weight lifting so for them, the contents of the video above are likely nothing too groundbreaking. But for the mere mortals and weekend warriors, getting a taste of old school Russian Greco strength training techniques just might be the “pick me up” that kicks things into another gear. So spend six minutes and see if you learn something. Odds are good that you will.